The Boeing 737 Max will be green-lighted to resume flights in Europe next week, following nearly two years of reviews after the aircraft was involved in two deadly crashes that saw the planes grounded worldwide, the head of the European aviation safety agency said Tuesday. Patrick Ky, executive director of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, or EASA, told reporters that planes will be permitted to fly so long as they meet conditions specified by the agency and that pilots are up to date on their training.
It will be cleared to fly again from next week, he said at an online event hosted by Germany's Aviation Press Club. The planes were grounded in March 2019 following the crashes of a Lion Air flight near Jakarta on October 29, 2018, and an Ethiopian Airlines flight on March 10, 2019, killing a total of 346 people.
Investigators determined that the cause of the crashes was a faulty computer system that pushed the plane's nose downward in flight and couldn't be overridden by pilots.
Changes mandated by EASA include a recertification of the plane's flight-control system, called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, which was not a part of previous 737 models.
The 737 Max returned to the skies in the United States last month, after the Federal Aviation Administration approved changes that Boeing made to the automated flight control system.
It has also been allowed by Brazil to resume flights, and Transport Canada said earlier this week that it had been cleared to start flying again Wednesday.
Earlier this month, the US Justice Department announced on Thursday that Boeing has agreed to pay more than $2.5 billion to resolve a criminal charge related to a conspiracy to defraud regulators over the 737 MAX crashes.
"Boeing's employees chose the path of profit over candor by concealing material information from the FAA concerning the operationof its 737 Max airplane and engaging in an effort to cover up their deception," David P Burns, acting assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's criminal division said.
With PTI inputs